If there's one thing that the pandemic has taught us, it's that there's no place like home. Most of us have been spending more time at home since March of last year, and that means more wear and tear on our mattresses.
Though historically a sleepy industry, a few fast-growing bedtime specialists deserve a little more attention. Sleep Number (SNBR 3.86%) and Casper Sleep (CSPR +0.00%) are interesting investments here. Don't believe me just yet? Sleep on it.
Image source: Sleep Number.
Sleep Number
There are plenty of different types of mattresses out there, but Sleep Number stands out from the crowd. Its air-chambered mattresses have adjustable firmness settings, earning the company its corporate moniker.
Sales soared by 70% in its latest quarter. That figure could be taken with a grain of salt since it was coming off of depressed results a year earlier during the first few months of the pandemic, but we're still looking at a healthy 36% increase over where it was two years ago.
Sleep Number will continue to be a popular choice for folks with the means to pay up for premium bedding. Its Sleep Number 360 -- billed as the first smart bed -- monitors sleep patterns through the evening and adjusts firmness, temperature, and even elevation accordingly. Sleep Number did caution investors that supply chain constraints weighed on its early summer inventory, but don't bet against a next-gen mattress maker posting double-digit sales growth that routinely trounced analyst profit targets until its latest fluke of a report.
Casper Sleep
It's been a tough go for Casper Sleep investors since it went public at $12 last year. The consumer-direct mattress seller has been a flop, and not just because it was initially hoping to go public as high as $19 a share. Casper Sleep stock shed nearly half of its value in 2020, and it's trading 32% lower this year through Wednesday's close.
I singled out Casper Sleep late last year as a broken IPO that should bounce back in 2021, and clearly that call's been wrong so far. However, it's oversold to the point where it's starting to make sense as a turnaround opportunity.
Revenue was decelerating ahead of its market debut last year. Revenue went from rising 43% in 2018 to a 23% increase in 2019. Casper Sleep's top line climbed just 13% in 2020, but it's finally starting to pick up the pace. The 13% increase it posted in the first quarter of this year simply matched last year's growth spurt, but revenue soared 38% in its latest report.
Casper Sleep sells its mattresses through 72 retail stores and its website. Sales through retail partnerships are going even faster. Last month it entered the Canadian market. Casper Sleep is growing faster than it has in its brief tenure as a public company, yet it would have to nearly triple from here to get back to its $12 IPO price. It's still a few years away from profitability, but at this price point, it's not a stock you want to sleep on right now.
